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With Charly Giblets passing this on for ABC you have to wonder what's up ABC's sleeve. These Vets are all volunteers, those who served in Vietnam & Korea were conscripted &/or volunteered under duress. What changed in the media's eyes?

With Charly Giblets passing this on for ABC you have to wonder what's up ABC's sleeve. These Vets are all volunteers, those who served in Vietnam & Korea were conscripted &/or volunteered under duress. What changed in the media's eyes?

Excellent!!

I'm not an expert but I can think of several in the Senate who volunteered for Vietnam and were not under any form of duress.

There are lots of wounds left from Vietnam that may only heal with the death of my generation. However, one of the lessons that I think was learned by both those who fought the war and those who opposed it was that you have to distinguish between the heroes, who do what we have asked of them and more, from the politicians, who sometimes choose to put our heroes at risk with insufficient thought or support.

I do not oppose war, but I opposed the Vietnam war from its very beginnings as I have opposed the Iraq war since before we invaded. However. we call on our soldiers to make sacrifices, and sometimes the ultimate sacrifice by following the orders of our civilian leadership. We owe them respect for what they have and will do with honor. That does not mean that we should stop questioning the mission. Quite the opposite. If we value the lives of our soldiers, we must always make sure that we do not put them at risk unless it is essential. It is appropriate that we should debate those missions and, when we make a mistake, that we should change course. The wounds we still have from Vietnam are a measure of the cost of pursuing a war for years after it has lost almost all popular support.

I demonstrated against the Vietnam War. I demonstrated against LBJ and Nixon. I did not demonstrate against our soldiers in Vietnam. They were our brothers and sons. However, I also did not go our of my way to honor them as they returned and for that I am ashamed. I tried to make amends later by going out of my way to hire veterans and to give them preference over those who, like me, did not serve. As a nation I hope we never again treat our armed forces the way we treated those who served so well in Vietnam. I also hope that we, as a nation, might one day learn to exercise better judgment in using our forces than we did in Vietnam, Grenada, or Iraq.

There are lots of wounds left from Vietnam that may only heal with the death of my generation. However, one of the lessons that I think was learned by both those who fought the war and those who opposed it was that you have to distinguish between the heroes, who do what we have asked of them and more, from the politicians, who sometimes choose to put our heroes at risk with insufficient thought or support.

I do not oppose war, but I opposed the Vietnam war from its very beginnings as I have opposed the Iraq war since before we invaded. However. we call on our soldiers to make sacrifices, and sometimes the ultimate sacrifice by following the orders of our civilian leadership. We owe them respect for what they have and will do with honor. That does not mean that we should stop questioning the mission. Quite the opposite. If we value the lives of our soldiers, we must always make sure that we do not put them at risk unless it is essential. It is appropriate that we should debate those missions and, when we make a mistake, that we should change course. The wounds we still have from Vietnam are a measure of the cost of pursuing a war for years after it has lost almost all popular support.

I demonstrated against the Vietnam War. I demonstrated against LBJ and Nixon. I did not demonstrate against our soldiers in Vietnam. They were our brothers and sons. However, I also did not go our of my way to honor them as they returned and for that I am ashamed. I tried to make amends later by going out of my way to hire veterans and to give them preference over those who, like me, did not serve. As a nation I hope we never again treat our armed forces the way we treated those who served so well in Vietnam. I also hope that we, as a nation, might one day learn to exercise better judgment in using our forces than we did in Vietnam, Grenada, or Iraq.

Thank you, Jeff.

JD

One cannot reason someone out of something they were not reasoned into. - Jonathan Swift

Grenada???? Really, Jeff? Ever hear the story of the field mouse and the mouse trap? I doubt the analogy would be seen by any pacifists. Far too childish. Just couldn't grasp Reagan's view of bargaining from a position of strength? It will be an interesting experiment doing it the way BHO has got you believing. The students at Grenada would still be there, awaiting a truce agreement.

How about the Little Red Hen? Just another analogy that you see as a joke? Has living in a capitalist nation tarnished your views of freedom so much you are willing to now march on towards socialism?

I'm happy for all you that are willing to pony up so it can be distributed by your government. Having paid in for several decades, you'll understand why I'm happy to no longer be a part of that crowd. I'm finally part of the lower 50%.

UB

When the one you love becomes a memory, that memory becomes a treasure.

Grenada???? Really, Jeff? Ever hear the story of the field mouse and the mouse trap? I doubt the analogy would be seen by any pacifists. Far too childish. Just couldn't grasp Reagan's view of bargaining from a position of strength? It will be an interesting experiment doing it the way BHO has got you believing. The students at Grenada would still be there, awaiting a truce agreement.

How about the Little Red Hen? Just another analogy that you see as a joke? Has living in a capitalist nation tarnished your views of freedom so much you are willing to now march on towards socialism?

I'm happy for all you that are willing to pony up so it can be distributed by your government. Having paid in for several decades, you'll understand why I'm happy to no longer be a part of that crowd. I'm finally part of the lower 50%.

UB

I threw Grenada in because it was one of the stupidest and least justified military exercises in our history and appeared to have no purposes other than to prove that we are masters of our hemisphere (who cares about the local governments) and to provide a little battlefield experience for the troops.

The medical students were never taken as hostages. Rather, it was claimed that because the school was near the runway being built by the British using Cuban workers that the students might be taken as hostages. Talk about stretching for justifications for "regime change." We have no more business telling other countries how to govern themselves than they have telling us. That doesn't mean that we should never intervene, but the cause should be immediate and unambiguous. In fact, the cause should be such that, if the same situation were going on in this country, we would agree that a foreign invasion to set things right would be justified. I believe our involvement in Afghanistan was justified by the government's support for Al Quaeda. I believe that our involvement in Kosuvo and Bosnia were justified by the immediacy of the humanitarian emergencies and the involvement of broad coalitions in support. However, when we have attacked other countries without direct provocation simply because we disagree with their policies -- as we did in Vietnam, Grenada, and Iraq, among others -- that we are violating our own principles and basically saying that might makes right. Sometimes we get away cleanly, as we did in Grenada. Other times we end up in an unexpected quagmire with disasterous consequences as we did in Vietnam and Iraq.

I demonstrated against the Vietnam War. I demonstrated against LBJ and Nixon. I did not demonstrate against our soldiers in Vietnam. They were our brothers and sons. However, I also did not go our of my way to honor them as they returned and for that I am ashamed. I tried to make amends later by going out of my way to hire veterans and to give them preference over those who, like me, did not serve. As a nation I hope we never again treat our armed forces the way we treated those who served so well in Vietnam. I also hope that we, as a nation, might one day learn to exercise better judgment in using our forces than we did in Vietnam, Grenada, or Iraq.

Today's popular version of the bolded pap above:

"You guys are killing, fighting and dying for nothing...a stupid, ginned-up war instigated by your imbecilic Commander in Chief. You're participating in torture, the killing of innocent Iraqis, and your little war has ruined our international standing. But hey, I support you and you have my respect."

I think you protesters, back biters, Code Pinkers, naybobs, and subverters prolonged the war in Vietnam and Iraq, gave aid and comfort to enemies in a time of war, have adversely affected Amercian foreign policy, and have cost Americans (and others) their lives with your petulance and soft-headed idealism. But hey, I support you and your right to dissent.